A Piece in Their Game
by The King's Soldier
Summary: "Sometimes they remind her of chess pieces." Abby Griffin's view of each of the six members of the 100 in Camp Jaha as expressed through a chess analogy. Looks at the strengths and roles of each of the six (Clarke, Bellamy, Finn, Octavia, Raven, and Murphy), as well as the potential power struggle brewing between Abby and Clarke. Set during 2x08.


Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: I'm really not entirely sure how to describe this piece. It's something that randomly popped into my head and refused to leave. I was thinking about the popular analogy of Bellamy and Clarke being the king and queen of the 100, and then it just went from there. This is my first story for this show, so hopefully it works. It's a little different from most of what I write. But I like it, and I hope you will too. Enjoy!

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><p><strong>A Piece in Their Game<strong>

Abby Griffin has always liked watching people. She probably would have made a career of it if she had lived on Earth back in the old days before humanity destroyed it. She could've written whole papers on how people move and interact, on unspoken rules and hive minds and herd mentality. But the Ark needed medical care far more than a study on crowd movement, so Abby set that passion aside and became a doctor. And she's a damn good one too. But sometimes, in the rare moments when she actually has the time to catch her breath, she still finds herself watching people.

Most of the time her people watching is random, but lately her focus keeps drifting toward the six members of the 100 who currently reside in Camp Jaha. (Well, technically seven, but Monroe is still injured and is sticking oddly close to Mel, so her interaction with the others has been minimal.) They create an interesting sub-group that Abby finds fascinating to watch. They pull their weight as if they have integrated with the rest of the camp, but anyone who knows anything about psychology can see that it's just a facade. They eat their meals together like a pack of ancient wolves, carefully glancing over their shoulders as if to make sure they aren't overhead. Sometimes they catch each other's eyes and it's like they have a whole conversation in the space of a blink. Like they speak a language no one else understands. They are a unit, carefully in tune with one another, ready to jump to the defense of any member. They remind Abby of conspirators quietly planning a revolution. It worries her.

Even so, she's fascinated by the workings within the group. Each person has a part to play, like gears carefully fit together so that the whole can function. Sometimes they remind Abby of chess pieces. Clarke used to love chess back on the Ark. She'd been good at it too. Abby never much cared for the strategy game, which strikes her as ironic since she ended up in politics. But she knows the rules that govern each piece, and she sees them now in the little band of survivors.

Bellamy is the king. There's no disputing that. He speaks and they answer. He moves and they follow. They would follow him to hell if he asked them to. And from what little Abby has managed to learn about their time on the ground, it seems like they have. They are like a gun seeking a target. Bellamy directs them, and they do the rest. Bellamy is strong and capable, and without him their little band would fall apart. Remove him from the board, and the game is over. But doing so is easier said than done. There is no doubt in Abby's mind that every one of the other five would give their lives for Bellamy. Somehow the disgraced guard has managed to do something Abby never thought possible – he took 100 delinquents and turned them into a united front. Into a family. And for that alone, he deserves his crown. But he also kept them alive. He kept Clarke alive. And for that, Abby can never repay him.

With Bellamy comes Octavia, a bishop. A fighter of deadly grace and elegance who flits innocently away only to come at you sideways. She is a fierce Amazonian warrior, an almost-queen who chose to bow to a stronger power for the good of the tribe. She understands the king's value, and she guards him like a mastiff. The hidden child raised in shadow has become a mighty and fearless huntress. A hurricane force to be reckoned with. A fitting sister for a king.

It still feels so strange to think of them as brother and sister. The last siblings on the Ark died when Abby was still in grade school, so she's never really been able to actively observe a pair of them. But as she watches Bellamy and Octavia together, sees how they subtly shift to guard each other's backs, how they read each other's minds without ever speaking a word, how they move together like one weapon in two bodies, she finds herself immensely grateful to their brave mother who dared defy the council. Those two share an unshakable bond, a protective drive that cannot be replicated. And there is no doubt in Abby's mind that the people of Camp Jaha are going to need that bond before this is all over.

They're also going to need Raven. She's a knight, constantly forging her own path. Doing what needs to be done, but doing it in her own way. Wearing a jocular smile to keep you at ease, but always working her own angle. Always having her own plan. She thinks outside the box, the sort of person who could get a square peg in a round hole and make it look easy. She sees the board in a way no one else does. How to sneak through the loopholes. How to dance around the enemy while staying just out of their reach. A true strategist.

Abby can use someone who thinks like she does. Someone with a knack for not only finding the holes but using them to her advantage. But Raven has changed since coming to the ground. The creative thinker is still there, but she plays it close to the vest now. She keeps her thoughts to herself, sharing them only with those she trusts. And somehow Abby has fallen outside of that inner circle. She tries to tell herself that it's because of what those six went through together, that their bond was forged by fire. But as she sees them huddled around a campfire with their heads bent close, she can't help but wonder if maybe it's not just her. The ground has changed these kids. And Abby isn't sure she likes what they've turned into.

Murphy is a prime example of that change. He was a rebel and a bully back on the Ark, but here he's a killer. And yet he looks so harmless, like a colorful snake waiting to strike. He reminds Abby of a pawn. Seemingly innocuous with his dark humor and snide remarks until he sidles up beside you and slips a knife between your ribs. He's also remarkably silent when he moves. The sort of person who could slip behind enemy lines unnoticed and then wreck havoc. Just like a pawn on a chess board. The other five clearly see his value, allowing him to work with them when necessary, but they still treat him like something of an outcast. But even so, they clearly trust him more than they do the other residents of Camp Jaha. And despite their treatment of him, Murphy obviously considers his allegiance to be to them. Better the devil you know, Abby supposes.

Then there's Finn. Finn is a rook. Or he was. Abby only saw him a few times before he went to the ground, but she still remembers him. A boy with firmly planted feet that refused to give an inch and a cocky grin that made you either want to hit him or join him. The sort of boy who could step between a bully and his victim and simply stare the bully into backing off. He was like an immovable stone wall. Not because he was big or muscular, but because there was just something about him, a fearless aura that said he could take you down with sheer force of will. A boy who pretended not to care at all to hide the fact that he cared too much. He reminded Abby of Jake as a boy. Maybe that's why she isn't surprised to discover that he and Clarke are in love. The dreamer with no anchor and the rebel with no cause. Clarke needed a foundation and Finn needed something to support. Together they complete each other.

Or at least, they used to. Now that great stone wall has collapsed, leaving behind a cracked and broken heap. A crumbling wreck that no one knows how to repair. Abby sees it in the way Clarke looks at Finn as if searching for a piece of him that she still recognizes. As if she doesn't even know who he is anymore. It's in Finn's eyes too. In the way he sits and stares at his hands as if he can still see blood on them. That cocky boy is gone forever, replaced by an empty shell waiting to die. The only thing keeping him alive now is Clarke. Abby can see it in his haunted eyes. He's given up on his redemption. His only goal now is to protect her daughter. The great wall has become a simple human shield waiting to throw himself in front of his love. A doomed piece preparing to make his final move. One last sacrifice to save his queen.

Because that's who Clarke is – the queen. That surprised Abby most of all. Clarke was always such a quiet girl. Not verbally quiet, necessarily, but more in the way she acted. Never drawing too much attention. Always happy to stay in the shadows and watch everyone else take the glory. And yet here she is taking charge. When she speaks, the other five fall silent. She never has to ask them to follow her. She simply stands up and they fall in line behind her. Even if they have no idea where she's leading. Somewhere along the way they learned that Clarke knows what she's doing. Experience has taught them to follow her without question. And so they do.

It's a different leadership from Bellamy's. The others follow him because he's older and more experienced and because there is just something authoritative about his presence. They follow Clarke because she's smart and brave and they know if they offer her their lives that she will fight tooth and nail to protect them. She and Bellamy are like two sides of the same coin. The brawn and the brains. The fierce commander and the passionate idealist. Complete opposites, and yet both needed. When they're together, they behave like two weathered warriors who understand each other in a way no one else can. They fit together so perfectly. Just like a king and queen on a chess board. The queen may be the most powerful, but the king is the most important. Clarke may be the stronger leader, but Bellamy is what holds this group together. She needs someone to rally the troops and he needs someone to protect him from himself. Together it just works.

Even so, there is no question that the true leader is Clarke. Behind every great man is a great woman, or so the saying goes. For Bellamy, that woman is Clarke. The ground has transformed her almost beyond recognition. Raven is right. Clarke is no longer a child. She is a fierce warrior queen who will do anything to protect her people. Even if it means defying her mother. And as proud as Abby is of how strong her daughter has become, she's also worried by it. There can only be one queen on the board. Sooner or later, one of them will have to back down. It's clear in Clarke's eyes that she doesn't know it yet, doesn't realize there may come a day when she has to challenge her mother for leadership. But Abby knows. There can only be one queen. And if Clarke comes against her... Well, that's a battle Abby isn't sure she can win.

For now, the threat of annihilation from the Grounders is enough to keep Clarke and the other five on the side of the Ark survivors. They need each other too much. But when this is all over and the other kids are rescued from Mount Weather (and there is no doubt in Abby's mind that Clarke and Bellamy will find a way to rescue them), then there may be trouble. Abby knows exactly who those freed kids will give their allegiance to, and it won't be her. She doesn't blame them. She and the rest of the council tossed them into the unknown with no preparation and no lifeline. Pushing them over the edge like a line of pawns being sacrificed for the salvation of the other pieces. Several of those kids died in the attempt, but the ones that didn't have come back stronger. They are no longer helpless children. They are warriors. If Clarke and Bellamy call, they will answer. And they will be a force to be reckoned with. So as much as Abby wants to save them, she also fears the day they return. Clarke is already slipping away from her. She can feel it. Her daughter has become a stranger. And the day those kids return, the day Clarke no longer needs Camp Jaha to save her people, could be the day Abby loses her completely.

But today is not that day. Today Abby is still the queen. A queen charged with the impossible task of somehow saving her people from oblivion. The Grounders have them in check, and she has to find a way out fast, has to come up with some brilliant, game-winning move. If she can't, then it won't matter what piece any of them are because the game will be over and they'll all be dead. And death plays no favorites. At the end of the game, the king and the pawn both go into the same box. But Abby really isn't too keen on that outcome. After everything her people have been through, everything they have suffered, everything they have endured, she is not going to let them go out like this. She's going to find a way out even if it kills her. This queen is not going down without a fight.

The board is set. The pieces are ready. Game on.

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><p>How was it? Please leave a quick review and let me know what you thought. It will make my day. I also have a few more ideas for potential 100 one-shots, and I'll be far more likely to actually make myself sit down and write them if I get feedback on this one. Just saying. :) Thanks for reading!<p> 


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